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Food Waste Recycling

Sending our rubbish to landfill sites continues to be a major topic
for debate as proposals for wind farms and incinerators are becoming
more common.

At present, the Local Government Association estimates that we
offload twice as much rubbish into landfill sites than Germany does,
although Germany has a larger population. Due to the fact that land
available for landfill sites is running out, pressure from Brussels and
Westminster is making the use of these sites more expensive, which in
turn is increasing the pressure to recycle our waste.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has introduced legislative
changes aimed to cut down the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill
and improve recycling. A major part of the change is the prevention of
food waste heading to landfill. Bespoke vehicles that utilize anaerobic
digestion provide a totally green service that also offers a viable
environmental and economic waste solution. Such a service is able to
handle packed and naked food waste, and has proved to be a great success
working with 68 Waitrose stores throughout the UK.

Why recycle your food waste?

Methane is produced by decomposing food waste, and it is in actual
fact 22 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.
Instead of letting food break down in this way, it can be converted into
biogas that generates electricity through anaerobic digestion (AD). The
only by-product produced through AD is a nutrient rich liquid
fertilizer.

Methane from food waste is 22 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.

Recycling food waste generates renewable energy, so is even better than carbon neutral.

40 percent of the 14million tonnes of food waste generated in UK each year goes to landfill.

By using AD to process food waste we are preventing 905kg of carbon emissions per tonne of waste entering the atmosphere.

Government’s waste policy review announces plans to support development of AD technology in the UK.

What is AD?
Anaerobic digestion (AD) breaks down organic matter using naturally
occurring microorganisms. This natural biological process results in the
production of a valuable fertilizer as a by-product of producing
biogas, a sustainable source of energy. To convert the biogas into
electricity and heat a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) engine is used.
Compared to sending waste food to landfill AD processing prevents 905kg
of carbon per tonne of food waste being released into the atmosphere.
It is becoming increasingly important that we consider not just how
to reduce the waste we create, but also how we can use it, too. Waste is
a resource, and when there is scarcity of resources, it is more
important than ever to consider sustainability through a broader
spectrum of material use.

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A waste is a hazardous waste if it is a listed waste, characteristic waste, used oil and mixed wastes. Specific procedures determine how waste is identified, classified, listed, and delisted. TYPES OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
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